Halting deforestation: One piece of the climate mitigation puzzle

Bilingual talk by Professor Catherine Potvin, McGill Department of Biology. All are welcome to attend this unique public lecture, which is presented as part of the international conference Genomes to/aux Biomes Montreal 2014. 

Professor Potvin specializes in tropical forest ecology and conservation. Tropical forests play a crucial role in the global carbon cycle and for species conservation. Besides that they are amazingly beautiful and express the full imagination of nature! For 20 years Dr. Potvin has been collaborating with and learning land use and reforestation practice from Panama’s indigenous people. This talk focusses on her laboratory’s work as a centre for “Science for empowerment”. This approach to science builds on the notion of empowerment of all actors – from local communities to indigenous peoples and national governments. It follow very closely both the negotiations and the implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.